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.B. A. FISKB. TELBSGOPIG SIGHT.

Patented Apr. 1-4, 1896.

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' Application filed May 20,1893. ser1um.47l,s7a. (No nd.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BRADL'EY A. Menu, of the United States Navy, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Telescopic Sights, of which the following is a specification.

The invention consistsin the'combination of a telescopiesight with that class of guns.

which are so arranged and constructed as always to recoil in the direction of their line of fire, and in this respect are difierent from guns which, whatever may be their angular posi- 1 tion,'always recoil along the planeof the deck or other support on which they rest. The socalled quick-fire guns now in use in all navies belong to-this first-named class, and my present object is to apply my telescopic sight to this exceedingly important type of weapon.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan View, of a gun mounted in a saddle and provided with my telescopic sight,-it being understood that only so much of the gun and saddle is here shown as is necessary for the understanding of my invention and that the type of gun here illustrated-is simply one now in ordinary use in the United States. Fig. 3 shows. the ar rangement of the telescope on an inclined base to allow for drift of the projectile.

Similar'letters and figures of reference indicate like parts. V

A is the gun, supported by its trunnions in the blocks B, which rest upon and move upon the slides C of the saddle D. The saddle D has trunnions E, which are received in bearings.

F of the upright standard. G. The standard G may be rotated on its vertical axis, so as to train the gun in azimuth, and the saddle D iniliar to persons skilled in the art and need turns on its trunnions E,- so as to raise or lower the muzzle of the gun. K is the lever for moving the breech-block. H is tlie firing-trigger, I is the shoulder-piece, against which the shoulder of the operator bears, and J is a handle which he grasps in order to steady himself against the gun and toj-move it conveniently by the movement of his body. All of these parts being old and well known, are fano further description.

My telescopic sight is mounted upon a suitable shelf or ledge 1, supported upon the rearwardly-projecting arm of the saddle D, as shown in Fig. 2.

, 2 is a telescopegsupported on trunnions in the standard In said standard is journaled a shaft 4, which carriesa "worm 5', which en'- gages in a curved, rackfi, supported telescope. i

y 7 is a'h-and-wheel by means of which the shaft 4 may bet'urned and the telescope thus rotated on its trunnions. The face of the wheel 7 is marked with suitable graduations, and in proximity thereto is a pointer S, .by which means the extent" of elevationfor depression of the telescope can be readily adjusted.

The face of the wheel 7 may bemarked at once for ranges corresponding to the angular elevations of the telescope.

J on the It will be observed that by this construction the axis of the-hereof the gun is always parallel .to the slide on the saddle, or, in other words, that the relation of gun and saddle is not. changed, so thatfor all practical purposes the upper edge of the saddle on which the telescopic sight'rest-s may be regarded as the axis of the bore, and as the distance to which the shot-will be'thrown -will always depend upon the angle of the axis of the bore with reference to the line of sight directed upon 'the object it is clear that if the line of sight be through the telescope then all that we have to consider is theangle of the telescope to its v base, which is the'upper' edge of the saddle.

Therefore the apparatus may be used in either of two Ways, depending upon whether the effect of a vibrating or moving platform, s-uchas a ships deck'at sea, is called into operation or not. Thusthe operator places the telescope 2, by means of the hand-whcel7, in

a position so that its axis is parallel to its base.

Then, still by means of the Wheel 7, he raises the eyepiece of the' telescope over an angle corresponding to the desired range; That-angle Will beyof course, the angle to which the gun mustbe elevated in order to throw its projectile over thatdesired range. Then he lowers the rear end of the saddle until the telescope comes on the object. As a matter of course he must then have raised the object end of the telescopaand' equally of course the gun itself, over the proper angle. hen the object appears on the cross-wires of the telescope the gun-trigger, is pulled.

It will be obvious that a moving orvibr'ating platform for the gun here plays no part.

independently of the telescope.

If, however, the platform is moving-that is to say, if the vessel is rolling or pitching-then that action is brought into play in thefollowing manner: The observer sets his telescope as before. I He then, instead of actually lowering the shoulder end of the telescope, merely Waits immovably until the upward roll of the ship carries the telescope upward until the object is seen thronglritw Thenhepresses the firing-trigger, as before. It will be seen that here the telescope is movable independently of the gun, but the gun is not movable Changes in elevation and depression of the gun do not produce any relative movement of the gun and telescope, so that to place the telescope parallel to the gun is easily done by simply bringing the graduation on its wheel 7 to a definite mark, after which the angle at Whichthe telescope is laid determines, of course, the elevation angle of the gun.

Although it has been stated above that the gun is supported on the saddle to which the telescope is secured,. it is to be understood that my invention comprehends also the combination of a telescope with any attachment to the gun-carriage which has motion coincident with the gun in elevation and train but which does not recoil with the gun. For instance, the telescope may be secured to a bar pivoted to a fixed part of the carriage in line with the trunnions and supported at its rear end OIL-$116 breech of the gun without departing fromthe limits of my invention.

The drift of a projectile when fired from a rifled gunis a deviation from the line of fire I to the right or the left, a right-handed rifiing causing the projectile to deviate to the right and a left-handed rifling causing the projectile to deviate to the-left. The distance to the right or left to which the shot is thus deviated increases with the distance to which the shot is fired, and it becomes necessary, therefore, to apply a correction, which also increases with the distance to which the shot is fired. With the ordinary sight-bar this correction is accomplished by placing the support of each sight-bar to one side of a line parallel to the bore of the gun from the front sightandby inclining it at an angle, so that the rear sight-bar as it is raised does not rise inv a vertical plane, but in one at a right angle thereto.

In my present device I provide for this correction automatically by inclining the trunnions whereon the telescope 2 is supported from the horizontal, thus inclining the vertical cross-wire in the telescope in the same said saddle to be movedin'a vertical plane,

and a telescope or sight-bar supported upon said saddle movable on a horizontal, transverse axis and disposed with its longitudinal axis in a vertical plane parallel to that including the axis of the bore of the gun.

2. The combination of the gun A, saddle D, on which said gun slides longitudinally, support G for said gun and telescope 2 movable. in standards 3 upon said saddle, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the gun A, saddle D, on which said gun slides longitudinally, sup port G for said gun, telescope 2 movable in standards 3 upon said saddle,and means, such as shaft 4-, rack 5 and piniono," for adjusting said telescope, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a gun, a support therefor and a telescope on said support, the

said gun and the said telescope being movable about their transverse axes and having their longitudinal axes disposed in relatively con-- verging and approximately vertical planes: whereby the line of sight to a distant object from said telescope is corrected to allow for driftof the projectile thrown from said gun,

substantially as described.

5. The combination of a guny'a" support 7 therefor and. a telescope on said support, the said guirand the said telescope being movable scope being supported on an inclined base: whereby the line of sight to. a distant object from said telescope is corrected to allow for drift of the projectile thrown from said gun, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the gun A,- saddle D, on which said gun slides longitudinally, support G for said gun, telescope 2-, and inclined standards 3 upon said saddle: the angle of inclination of said standards being such as to correct the line of sight from the telescope to a distant object to allow for drift of the projectile thrown from said gun, substantially as described.

BRADLEY A. FISKE.

Vi tn esses:

WM. ARNOUX, JOHN C. SANDERS.

about their transverse axes and the said tele- 

